Method and apparatus for detecting and dealing with a lost electronics device

ABSTRACT

Techniques for detecting and dealing with a lost electronics device are disclosed. In one design, the device may autonomously determine whether it is lost. The device may destroy at least one component to render it inoperable and may perform other actions in response to determining that it is lost. In another design, the device may determine available battery power of the device upon determining that it is lost, select at least one action in a list of possible actions based on the available battery power, and perform the selected action(s). In yet another design, upon determining that it is lost, the device may prevent access to information on the device based on a secondary security key, which is not used for encrypting information during normal operation. In yet another design, the device may notify at least one contact and may perform at least one additional action upon determining that it is lost.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No.13/183,311, filed Jul. 14, 2011, entitled “Method and Apparatus forDetecting and Dealing With a Lost Electronics Device,” which is assignedto the assignee hereof and is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

I. Field

The present disclosure relates generally to electronics, and morespecifically to techniques for dealing with a lost electronics device.

II. Background

Electronics devices such as cellular phones and smart phones are widelyused for various purposes and applications. These devices often storesensitive information (e.g., personal information) of users. A devicemay support password-based screen lock, which can prevent the use of thedevice (and hence prevent unauthorized access to the sensitiveinformation) unless a correct password is entered. However, thispassword-based screen lock feature is not supported by all devices.Furthermore, this password-based screen lock feature may not be utilizedby users on devices that do support this feature. If password-basedscreen lock is not supported by a device, or is supported but notutilized, then any person who comes into contact with the device may beable to utilize the device and access the sensitive information. Thismay be undesirable, especially if the device is lost.

SUMMARY

Techniques for detecting and dealing with a lost electronics device aredescribed herein. An example of a method according to the disclosureincludes autonomously determining, by a device, that the device is lostand destroying at least one component of the device to render the deviceinoperable in response to determining that the device is lost.

Implementations of such a method may include one or more of thefollowing features. The autonomously determining that the device is lostmay include determining that the device is lost when the device isdetected to have been dropped and not picked up within a predeterminedtime period. The autonomously determining that the device is lost mayinclude determining that the device is lost when the device is detectedto have not been moved for a predetermined duration. The autonomouslydetermining that the device is lost may include determining a currentenvironment of the device, and determining that the device is lost basedon the current environment of the device. The determining the currentenvironment of the device may include determining the currentenvironment of the device based on a location of the device, or outputsof one or more sensors on the device, or one or more applicationsrunning on the device, or information accessed on the device, or acombination thereof. The autonomously determining that the device islost may include storing a log of environments known to be safe for thedevice, and determining that the device is lost based on the currentenvironment of the device and the log of environments known to be safe.The destroying at least one component of the device may includedestroying a memory, or a central processing unit (CPU), or a graphicsprocessing unit (GPU), or a display on the device, or a combinationthereof. The method may include detecting the device being tampered andperforming at least one action in response to detecting the device beingtampered, the at least one action including preventing access toinformation on the device, or wiping out information on the device, orpreventing access to the device, or a combination thereof.

An example of an apparatus according to the disclosure includes meansfor autonomously determining, by a device, that the device is lost andmeans for destroying at least one component of the device to render thedevice inoperable in response to determining that the device is lost.

Implementations of such an apparatus may include one or more of thefollowing features. The means for autonomously determining that thedevice is lost may include means for determining that the device is lostwhen the device is detected to have been dropped and not picked upwithin a predetermined time period, or when the device is detected tohave not been moved for a predetermined duration, or based on a currentenvironment of the device, or a combination thereof. The apparatus mayinclude means for detecting the device being tampered and means forperforming at least one action in response to detecting the device beingtampered, the at least one action including preventing access toinformation on the device, or wiping out information on the device, orpreventing access to the device, or a combination thereof.

An example of an apparatus according to the disclosure includes at leastone processor configured to autonomously determine, by a device, thatthe device is lost, and to destroy at least one component of the deviceto render the device inoperable in response to determining that thedevice is lost.

Implementations of such an apparatus may include one or more of thefollowing features. The at least one processor may be configured todetermine that the device is lost when the device is detected to havebeen dropped and not picked up within a predetermined time period, orwhen the device is detected to have not been moved for a predeterminedduration, or based on a current environment of the device, or acombination thereof. The at least one processor may be configured todetect the device being tampered, and to perform at least one action inresponse to detecting the device being tampered, the at least one actionincluding preventing access to information on the device, or wiping outinformation on the device, or preventing access to the device, or acombination thereof.

An example of a computer program product according to the disclosureincludes a non-transitory computer-readable medium including code forcausing at least one computer to autonomously determine, by a device,that the device is lost, and code for causing the at least one computerto destroy at least one component of the device to render the deviceinoperable in response to determining that the device is lost.

Implementations of such a computer program product may include one ormore of the following features. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium may include code for causing the at least one computer todetermine that the device is lost when the device is detected to havebeen dropped and not picked up within a predetermined time period, orwhen the device is detected to have not been moved for a predeterminedduration, or based on a current environment of the device, or acombination thereof. The non-transitory computer-readable medium mayinclude code for causing the at least one computer to detect the devicebeing tampered, and code for causing the at least one computer toperform at least one action in response to detecting the device beingtampered, the at least one action including preventing access toinformation on the device, or wiping out information on the device, orpreventing access to the device, or a combination thereof.

Various aspects and features of the disclosure are described in furtherdetail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a process for detecting and dealing with a lost device.

FIG. 2 shows a process for autonomously determining that a device islost and performing one or more actions.

FIG. 3 shows a process for performing actions based on available batterypower of a device.

FIG. 4 shows a process for locking up information based on a securitykey.

FIG. 5 shows a process for notifying contacts and performing otheractions.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques for detecting and dealing with lost electronics devices aredescribed herein. These techniques may be used for various types ofdevices such as cellular phones, smart phones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), laptop computers, tablets, netbooks, smartbooks, etc.These techniques may be used for devices that support wireless and/orwireline communication (e.g., cellular phones, smart phones, laptopcomputers, etc.) as well as devices that do not support communication.

A device may be used for various purposes and may store sensitiveinformation as well as other information for an owner/user of thedevice. The sensitive information may include personal information,business information, etc. The sensitive information may be storedpurposefully or incidentally in buffers, non-volatile memory such asFlash memory or static random access memory (SRAM), volatile memory suchas random access memory (RAM), virtual memory, temporary files, etc., onthe device.

The owner may lose the device and may be worried about the sensitiveinformation stored on the device. However, the owner may have a recentback-up copy of pertinent information on the device, which may be storedon a designated server, a backup storage device, etc. Hence, the ownermay not be concerned about copying information from the device onto anew device when the device is lost. The device may support a remote wipefeature and may be able to destroy the sensitive information and/orother information on the device in response to a remote wipe commandfrom the owner. The owner may send this remote wipe command to thedevice when the owner realizes that the device is lost and desires todestroy the information on the device. The owner may send the remotewipe command from a remote location via a communication networksupported by the device.

The remote wipe feature may not be able to guarantee destruction ofinformation on the lost device for several reasons. First, the devicemay not be accessible remotely, e.g., because the device is notconnected to a communication network, or a power source is removed fromthe device, etc. Second, the device may be tricked into giving a falseresponse. For example, the device may be disconnected from thecommunication network, and the information on the device may be copied.The device may thereafter be connected to the communication network,receive a remote wipe command, wipe information on the device, and senda response indicating that the information has been destroyed. However,this response would essentially be false since the information has beencopied before or after receiving the remote wipe command.

In an aspect, a device may autonomously determine that it is lost. Thedevice may then autonomously perform one or more actions in response todetermining that it is lost. The device may thus have a dead-man switchthat can trigger an entire process of lock, backup, wipe, and/orself-destruct.

In general, a device may be deemed to be lost if its whereabouts is notknown to an owner of the device and/or if it is not within control ofthe owner. For example, the device may be lost if it is misplaced by theowner, or stolen from the owner, etc. The device may determine that itis lost in various manners. This determination may not be totallyaccurate, and there is a possibility of the device being wrong when itdetermines that it is lost.

In one design, the device may determine that it is lost if it has beendropped and not picked up. The device may include an accelerometer thatcan sense acceleration of a fall, then a sudden stop when the devicehits the floor, followed by a lack of motion. The device may alsoinclude other sensors that may sense vibration caused by the shock of adrop, deformation of the external surface of the device due to a drop,etc. The device may also detect that it has been dropped based on othersensors and/or in other manners. The device may start a timer upondetecting that it has been dropped. The device may then determinewhether it has been picked up based on its sensors, or depressed keys onthe device, etc. The device may declare that it is lost if it is notpicked up prior to expiration of the timer. The timer may be set to asuitable value based on a tradeoff between the likelihood of correctlydetermining that the device is lost, how quickly lost can be detected,etc.

In another design, the device may determine that it is lost if it hasnot been moved for a predetermined duration. This may imply that thedevice has been lost, forgotten, or abandoned. The device may determinethat it has not moved based on sensors on the device, or detection ofthe same cell or the same set of cells in a wireless network, etc.

In yet another design, the device may determine that it is lost if it isin a non-familiar environment. The device may occasionally determine itsenvironment using various sensors on the device. The device may store alog of environments previously determined to be safe. The device mayoccasionally compare its current environment to the log and may declarethat it is lost if the current environment deviates from the previouslydetermined safe environments.

The environment of the device may be determined based on various sensorson the device. The environment of the device may also be determinedbased on one or more of the following criteria:

-   -   Location of the device, which may be determined based on a        positioning method such as Global Positioning System (GPS),        enhanced cell identity (ID), etc.,    -   Whether the device senses familiar devices, base stations,        networks, etc. for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, wide area network (WAN),        etc.,    -   Whether the device is plugged in its usual orientation (using        compass and accelerometer) or cradle, adapter, voltage, current,        etc.,    -   Whether the device is plugged in at its usual location,    -   Whether the device detects a familiar magnetic field, which may        be sensed using an internal compass or by other means,    -   Whether the device detects familiar background noise such as        ambient noise, voices, music, etc.,    -   Whether the device senses familiar ambient light (e.g., lack of        light may imply that the device is stuck inside a couch, or the        backseat of a car, etc.),    -   Whether the device senses familiar acceleration (e.g., the gait        of the owner/user versus acceleration from being wedged in the        backseat of a car),    -   Whether the device detects familiar objects (e.g., furniture,        wall color, ceiling pattern, faces, etc.),    -   Whether applications running on the device are commonly used,    -   Whether data being accessed on the device is commonly accessed,        used, consumed, downloaded, shared, etc.,    -   Whether photos being taken by the device are of familiar areas,        locations, landmarks, etc.,    -   Whether the device detects familiar touches (e.g., words per        minute, left versus right hand held, hand orientation, hand        size, fingertip size, etc.),    -   Whether the device detects the voice of its owner or trusted        secondary users (e.g., family members, co-workers, friends,        etc.), and    -   Other criteria.

The environment of the device may be determined based on any one or anycombination of the criteria listed above. The environment of the devicemay also be determined based on other criteria.

In one design, the device may occasionally determine its environment andmay ascertain whether its environment is safe. For example, the devicemay ask the owner/user to confirm that it is not lost and may determinethat the current environment is safe upon receiving a confirmation fromthe owner. In another design, the device may determine its environmentwhenever the device is engaged in a task deemed to be valid. A validtask may be a phone call to a number stored on the device, a functioninvolving a valid security key or password, etc. The environment duringa valid task may be deemed as safe. The device may also determine safeenvironments in other manners. The device may store the log of safeenvironments for use to detect whether the device is lost.

FIG. 1 shows a design of a process 100 performed by the device. Thedevice may determine that it is lost (block 112). This determination maybe made based on various criteria, as described above, and may have acertain likelihood of being incorrect. The device may perform variousactions upon determining that it is lost. In one design, the device maylock access to the device and/or information on the device (block 114).The device may determine the available battery power of the device(block 116). The device may select actions to perform based on theavailable battery power and a prioritized list of actions (block 118).In general, the device may select zero, one, or multiple actionsdepending on the available battery power and/or other criteria. Thedevice may perform the selected actions, if any (block 120).

In one design, the prioritized list may include one or more of thefollowing actions:

1. Inform a list of contacts of the device being lost,

2. Back up information on the device,

3. Wipe out information on the device, and

4. Self-destruct the device.

In the design above, the actions are listed in an order from leastimportant to most important. Hence, informing the list of contacts isthe least important action in the list, and self-destruction is the mostimportant action in the list. The prioritized list may include fewer,more, and/or different actions. The actions may also be prioritized in adifferent order than the order shown above.

In one design, the owner may be provided with a list of actions that canbe performed by the device upon determining that the device is lost. Theowner may select which actions for the device to perform and possiblythe priority of each selected action. This design may allow the owner tocustomize which actions to perform in case the device is lost based onthe owner's requirements and preferences. For example, the owner mayprefer data security over device and data recoverability and may thenelect to wipe out information on the device and/or self-destruct thedevice when it is determined to be lost. As another example, the ownermay prefer device and data recoverability over data security and maythen elect to secure the device and information stored on the device,but not wipe out information on the device and not self-destruct thedevice, when it is determined to be lost. In another design, theprioritized list of actions may be configured by a trusted entity, whichmay be a network operator, an enterprise information technology (IT)department, a trusted person, etc. The actions in the prioritized listmay be selected from a list of possible actions.

In block 114 in FIG. 1, the device may lock and prevent access toinformation stored on the device upon determining that it is lost. Thislock may be achieved in various manners. In one design, the device maylock access to information based on a secondary security key, which isnot used to encrypt the information during normal operation. The devicemay encrypt sensitive information and possibly other information on thedevice based on a primary key to secure the information and may storethe encrypted information on the device. In one design of lockinginformation, the device may re-encrypt the encrypted information basedon the secondary security key upon determining that it is lost. In thisdesign, the information may be encrypted using two security keys whenthe device determines that it is lost. In another design of lockinginformation, the device may encrypt the information on the device withonly the secondary security key when the device determines that it islost. In yet another design of locking information, the device mayprevent access to the information unless the secondary security key isprovided, without encrypting the information based on the secondarysecurity key. In this design, the secondary security key may be used insimilar manner as a password to access the information. The device mayalso lock access to information stored on the device in other manners.

In one design, the primary security key may be used by the owner of thedevice on a regular basis in normal operation to access information onthe device. The primary security key may be configured on the device,e.g., when the device is activated or when the security key is needed.In one design, the secondary security key may be known to a trustedentity but unknown to the owner of the device. The trusted entity may bea network operator, an enterprise IT department, a trusted person, etc.In this design, the device, if found, may be taken to the trusted entityto be unlocked. In another design, the secondary security key may beknown to the owner, and the device may be unlocked by the owner if it isfound.

Alternatively or additionally, in block 114, the device may lock accessto the device upon determining that it is lost. In one design, thedevice may lock the user interface of the device. For example, thedevice may activate screen lock in response to determining that it islost. In another design, the device may disable certain functions of thedevice. In yet another design, the device may disable certain circuitson the device to render the device inoperable. The device may beunlocked by the owner, or the trusted entity, or some other entity.

In block 116 in FIG. 1, the device may determine the available batterypower upon determining that it is lost. This may be achieved with abattery power detector normally available on a wireless device. Thedevice may determine one or more actions to perform based on theavailable battery power.

In general, the number of actions that may be performed by the deviceupon determining that it is lost may be limited by the amount ofavailable battery power of the device. The device may be able to performmore actions if more battery power is available, and vice versa. Toensure that more important actions are performed prior to less importantactions, the actions that can be performed by the device may beprioritized and placed in a list. The device may then select one or moreactions to perform from the prioritized list based on the availablebattery power.

In one design, the device may store the prioritized list of actions andmay store or determine the amount of battery power required for eachaction. The required battery power for an action may be fixed or may bevariable and dependent on one or more factors. For example, the requiredbattery power to inform a list of contacts may be dependent on channelconditions. The required battery power to wipe out or back upinformation may be dependent on the amount of information to wipe out orback up. In any case, the device may know the required battery power foreach action in the prioritized list. The device may traverse down thelist, starting with the most important action. The device may considerone action at a time and may determine whether or not to perform theaction based on the available battery power of the device and therequired battery power for the action. The device may update theavailable battery power whenever an action is selected. The number ofactions to select as well as which actions to select may be dependent onthe available battery power of the device and the required battery powerfor each action.

For the exemplary prioritized list of four actions given above, thedevice may first determine whether there is sufficient battery power toself-destruct the device. If the answer is yes, then the device mayselect this action and may subtract the required battery power for thisaction from the currently available battery power of the device. Next,the device may determine whether there is sufficient battery power towipe out information on the device. If the answer is yes, then thedevice may select this action and may update the currently availablebattery power of the device by subtracting the required battery powerfor this action. Next, the device may determine whether there issufficient battery power to back up information on the device. If theanswer is yes, then the device may select this action and may update thecurrently available battery power of the device by subtracting therequired battery power for this action. Next, the device may determinewhether there is sufficient battery power to notify the list ofcontacts. If the answer is yes, then the device may select this action.

The device may also select actions to perform based on other criteria.In one design, the device may consider the amount of time needed tocomplete an action. For example, a particular action (e.g., wipe) maytake a long time (e.g., hours) to complete, even with a sufficient powersource. The owner may be worried about security (e.g., worried that thepower source will be removed from the device before the action iscompleted). The owner may then configure the device to skip actions thatwould take too long or may set maximum time limits to complete theactions before moving onto or skipping to the next step. The device mayalso select actions to perform based on different and/or other criteria.

The device may obtain a list of actions to perform, e.g., as describedabove. In general, the device may perform the actions in the list in anyorder. The order in which the actions are performed may be dependent onthe severity of each action and whether a given action affects otheractions. For example, the device may perform the self-destruct actionlast since this may impair the ability to perform other actions. Thedevice may also back up information prior to wiping out the information.

In one design, for the prioritized list of four actions given above, thedevice may perform the actions in the reverse order of importance. Forexample, if there is sufficient available battery power to perform allfour actions, then the device may first notify the list of contacts. Thedevice may then back up information on the device. The device may nextwipe out information on the device. The device may then self-destruct.The device may perform each of the actions as described below.

In one design, the device may store the list of contacts for possiblenotification when the device is lost. The list of contacts may includethe owner of the device and/or other designated people or entities. Thelist of contacts may also include or may be associated with a databaseof relevant information. For example, the relevant information for acontact may include a phone number, an email address, and/or otherinformation that may be used to notify the contact of the device beinglost. The list of contacts may be configured by the owner at any timeand may be configured in a secure manner.

In one design, the device may inform the list of contacts of the devicebeing lost if there is sufficient battery power. The device may informthe contacts via short message service (SMS), email, voice call, paging,etc. The device may provide pertinent information when notifying thelist of contacts. In one design, the device may provide informationrelated to the location of the device, such as its current geographiclocation, or Wi-Fi location, etc. The geographic location may bedetermined based on GPS or some other positioning method. The Wi-Filocation may be determined based on one or more access points in awireless local area network (WLAN) detected by the device. In anotherdesign, the device may provide information related to its environment.The environment-related information may comprise one or more photostaken by a camera on the device, a video captured by the camera, a soundclip recorded via a microphone on the device, an indication of whetherthe device is stationary or in motion, and/or other information capturedby other sensors on the device.

A contact in the list of contacts may receive the notification of thedevice being lost. The contact may also receive pertinent informationsent with the notification by the device. This information may beinformative to the contact and/or may be used by the contact to makedecisions regarding the device. In one design, the contact may be giventhe option of aborting subsequent actions to be performed by the device.If the contact decides to abort subsequent actions and provides asuitable response within a particular time window, then the device mayskip subsequent actions.

In one design, the device may back up information on the device if thereis sufficient battery power. The device may regularly connect securelyto a designated server to back up information on the device. In onedesign, the device may back up only information that has changed sincethe last back-up or synchronization upon determining that it is lost.This design may reduce the amount of information to back up informationwhen determining that the device is lost. In another design, the devicemay back up all designated information (e.g., all sensitive informationand possibly other information). For both designs, the device may backup information in a secure manner. The device may establish a secureconnection with the designated server that can back up the information.The secure connection may be achieved using encryption, or virtualprivate network (VPN), or bouncing data streams through various proxyservers, or other means, or a combination thereof. The device may thensend the information via the secure connection for back up on thedesignated server.

In one design, the device may wipe/delete information on the device ifthere is sufficient battery power. The information to wipe may or maynot match the information to back up. For example, the device may backup only pertinent information on the device but may wipe all informationon the device. The information to wipe may reside in an external memory,an internal memory, a SIM card, etc. The owner may configure in advancewhich information, which memory, and/or which parts of which memory towipe in case the device is lost. The device may permanently wipeinformation using a suitable wiping algorithm or some other means. Forexample, the device may use a military grade wiping algorithm (e.g., analgorithm provided by www.dban.org) that can overwrite every bitrepeatedly in order to make the information unrecoverable.

In one design, the owner may configure in advance which parts of memoryand/or which information should not be wiped. For example, a part ofmemory storing return information to enable return of the device to theowner may not be wiped. The return information may include a 1-800number, an email address, or a website that a finder of the device canuse to communicate with the owner in order to return the device.

In one design, the device may disable itself and self-destruct if thereis sufficient battery power. In one design, the device may permanentlydamage certain components (e.g., all memories except for certain exemptareas) in order to render the device inoperable and physically unable tofunction and to make information on the device irretrievable to anyone.Components may be damaged via short-circuit, electromagnetic pulse,blowing fuses, tampering with the battery to cause explosion, and/orother means. The device may also damage components on the device thathave commercial value such as a display, a central processing unit(CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), etc. This may render the deviceinoperable and may also discourage theft of the device for resale of theentire device or its parts.

The severity of self-destruction of the device may be dependent onvarious factors such as the device type, the desired level ofdestruction, etc. For example, violent self-destruction may be allowedfor a military device whereas self-destruction that does not harm anyonehandling the device may be required for a consumer device. As anotherexample, some owners may desire total self-destruction of their devicesand may have no interest in recovering their devices if lost. Incontrast, other owners may desire self-destruction of only certain keycomponents of their devices, if lost, with the hope of recovering andpossibly reusing their devices.

The device may determine that it is lost but too low on battery power toperform any action or all actions in the prioritized list. The devicemay then monitor its battery power to determine whether it has beenrecharged. The device may detect that is has been recharged and mayinterpret this event in various manners. In one design, the device mayinterpret battery recharge to mean that the device is not actually lostand that the prior detection of being lost was in error. The device maythen move out of the “lost” state. In another design, the device mayinterpret battery recharge to mean possible error in the prior detectionof being lost. The device may then authenticate the user before movingout of the lost state. For example, the device may require the user toenter the primary security key, a password, or some other authenticationinformation in order to move out of the lost state. If the user cannotbe authenticated (e.g., if the primary security key, password, or someother authentication information was not provided), then the device maycontinue with blocks 116 and 118 in FIG. 1. In yet another design, thedevice may maintain its determination that it is lost even afterdetecting battery recharge. The device may then determine the availablebattery power (in block 116 in FIG. 1) and perform one or more actionsin the prioritized list (in block 118 in FIG. 1).

In one design, the device may include a backup power source, e.g., abackup battery. The backup power source may have sufficient power toenable the device to perform one or more actions upon determining thatit is lost. For example, the backup power source may provide sufficientpower to self-destruct memory and possibly other components (e.g., aCPU, a GPU, a display, etc.) beyond recovery.

The device may select actions to perform upon determining that it islost, e.g., based on the available battery power and the priority ofeach action, as described above. In one design, the device mayimmediately perform all selected actions. In another design, the devicemay perform the selected actions in a staggered manner. For example, thedevice may immediately lock access to the device and/or information onthe device upon determining that it is lost. The device may alsoimmediately or shortly thereafter notify the list of contacts and backup information on the device. The device may then wait some amount oftime before wiping out information on the device. The device may thenwait some additional amount of time and then perform self-destruction.The device may immediately perform actions that do not destroyinformation or the device. The device may wait progressively longer forprogressively more destructive actions. Alternatively, the owner mayconfigure the device to self-destruct immediately.

In one design, the device may incorporate tamper-proof security hardwarethat can sense and prevent invasive tampering and/or non-invasivetampering. Invasive tampering may include opening a case, removing apower source, drilling small holes in the case to access inside, etc.Non-invasive tampering may include hyper-cooling to prevent sensing ofremoval of the power source, high frequency scopes to examine state ofbits, etc. Tampering of the device may also be detected based on othercriteria such as repeated attempts to access sensitive information,failure of certain components on the device, etc. The device may alsodetect whether it has been tampered via invasive or non-invasive meansin other manners.

In one design, the device may determine whether it has been tampered,e.g., before or after determining that it is lost. The device may takecorrective action upon detecting that it has been tampered. In onedesign, the device may immediately wipe out information on the deviceupon determining that it has been tampered. In another design, thedevice may immediately lock access to the device and/or information onthe device upon determining that it has been tampered. The device mayalso perform other actions (e.g., any of the actions in the prioritizedlist) immediately upon detecting tampering.

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary design of detecting and dealing with a lostdevice. In general, one or more of the features described above may beimplemented to deal with a lost device. Furthermore, the featuresdescribed above may be used for other scenarios beside a lost device.

FIG. 2 shows a design of a process 200 performed by a device. The devicemay autonomously determine that it is lost (block 212). The device maydestroy at least one component of the device to render the deviceinoperable in response to determining that the device is lost (block214). For example, the device may destroy a memory, a CPU, a GPU, adisplay, and/or some other component on the device.

In one design, the device may determine that it is lost when the deviceis detected to have been dropped and not picked up within apredetermined time period. In another design, the device may determinethat it is lost when the device is detected to have not been moved for apredetermined duration. In yet another design, the device may determinethat it is lost based on the current environment of the device. Thedevice may determine its current environment based on the location ofthe device, sensed results of one or more sensors on the device, one ormore applications running on the device, information accessed on thedevice, and/or other criteria. In one design, the device may store a logof environments known to be safe for the device. The device maydetermine that it is lost based on the current environment of the deviceand the log of environments known to be safe.

In one design, the device may detect that it is tampered. The device mayperform at least one action in response to detecting that it istampered. The at least one action may include preventing access toinformation on the device, wiping the information on the device,preventing access to the device, etc.

FIG. 3 shows a design of a process 300 performed by a device. The devicemay determine available battery power of the device in response todetermining that it is lost (block 312). The device may select at leastone action in a list of possible actions based on the available batterypower of the device (block 314). The list of possible actions may beprioritized, and the device may select the at least one action basedfurther on the priority of each action in the list of possible actions.The device may perform the at least one action (block 316).

The device may autonomously determine that it is lost or may be notifiedthat it is lost, e.g., by an owner via a communication link. The devicemay then determine the available battery power in block 312, select atleast one action in block 314, and perform the at least one action inblock 316 in response to determining that the device is lost. The devicemay prevent access to the device and/or access to information on thedevice in response to determining that the device is lost.

In one design, the list of possible actions may include a first actionto inform a list of contacts when the device is lost, a second action toback up information on the device, a third action to wipe outinformation on the device, a fourth action to self-destruct the device,some other action, or a combination thereof. The list of possibleactions may be specifically configured for the device, e.g., by theowner of the device or a trusted entity for the device.

The device may detect recharge of battery power of the device. In onedesign, the device may declare that it is not lost in response thebattery recharge. In another design, the device may performauthentication to determine whether the device is actually lost. In yetanother design, the device may continue to deem that it is lost eventhough battery power is recharged.

FIG. 4 shows a design of a process 400 performed by a device. The devicemay determine that it is lost (block 412). The device may autonomouslydetermine that it is lost or may be notified that it is lost, e.g., byan owner via a communication link. The device may prevent access toinformation on the device based on a secondary security key, which isnot used for encrypting the information during normal operation of thedevice (block 414).

In one design, the device may encrypt the information based on a primarysecurity key to secure the information prior to determining that thedevice is lost. The device may re-encrypt the encrypted informationbased on the secondary security key after determining that the device islost. In this design, the information may be encrypted based on twosecurity keys. In another design, the device may encrypt the informationbased on only the secondary security key to secure the information afterdetermining that the device is lost. In yet another design, the devicemay prevent access to the information unless the secondary security keyis received by the device, e.g., via a user interface on the device orremotely via a communication link. In this design, the secondarysecurity key may be used in similar manner as a password, and theinformation may not be encrypted.

In one design, the secondary security key may be inaccessible to anowner of the device and accessible to a trusted entity for the device.In this design, the owner may recover the information by taking thedevice to the trusted entity. In another design, the secondary securitykey may be accessible to the owner of the device, who may be able torecover the information.

FIG. 5 shows a design of a process 500 performed by a device. The devicemay obtain an indication that it is lost (block 512). The device mayperform a first action of notifying at least one contact in response toobtaining the indication (block 514). The device may perform at leastone additional action in a list of actions in response to obtaining theindication (block 516). The list of actions may include a second actionof backing up information on the device, a third action of wiping outinformation on the device, a fourth action of self-destroying at leastpart of the device, some other action, or a combination thereof.

The device may store a list of contacts to notify in case the device islost and contact information for the contacts in the list. In onedesign, the device may notify each of the at least one contact of thedevice being lost. The device may also provide pertinent informationsuch as information related to the location of the device, informationrelated to the environment of the device, some other information, or acombination thereof. The device may receive a response from a contactamong the at least one contact notified by the device. The device mayskip the at least one additional action based on the response from thecontact.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a design of a device 600, which may becapable of performing the techniques described herein. Device 600 may bea cellular phone, a smart phone, a PDA, a laptop computer, a tablet, anetbook, a smartbook, a terminal, a handset, etc. Device 600 may supportcommunication via one or more wireless communication networks, which mayinclude a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Global Systemfor Mobile Communications (GSM) network, a Long Term Evolution (LTE)network, a WLAN, etc.

Device 600 can support bi-directional communication via a receive pathand a transmit path. In the receive path, signals transmitted by basestations and/or other devices may be received by an antenna 612 andprovided to a receiver (RCVR) 614. Receiver 614 may condition anddigitize a received signal and provide input samples to a digitalsection 620 for further processing. In the transmit path, a transmitter(TMTR) 616 may receive data to be transmitted from digital section 620.Transmitter 616 may process and condition the data and may generate amodulated signal, which may be transmitted via antenna 612 to the basestations and/or other devices.

Digital section 620 may include various processing, interface, andmemory components such as, for example, a CPU 622, acontroller/processor 624, a secure module 626, an internal memory 628, aGPU 632, a battery power detector 634, a lost device detector 636, aninput/output (I/O) interface module 638, and a location determinationmodule 640, all of which may communicate via a bus 630. CPU 622 mayperform processing for data transmission and reception, e.g., encoding,modulation, demodulation, decoding, etc. CPU 622 may also performprocessing for various applications such as, e.g., voice call, webbrowsing, multi-media, games, user interface, positioning, etc. GPU 632may perform processing for text, graphics, and video and may provide itsoutput to a display 642. Controller/processor 624 may direct theoperation of various processing and interface modules within digitalsection 620. Controller/processor 624, CPU 622, and/or other modules indevice 600 may perform or direct process 100 in FIG. 1, process 200 inFIG. 2, process 300 in FIG. 3, process 400 in FIG. 4, process 500 inFIG. 5, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

Secure module 626 may securely store sensitive information, securitykeys, and/or other information for device 600. Memory 628 may storeinformation and/or other data for device 600 and may comprise a RAM, aSRAM, etc. Battery power detector 634 may determine the available powerof a battery 644. Although not shown in FIG. 6, device 600 may include abackup power source (e.g., a backup battery), which may ensuresufficient battery power to perform one or more actions when device 600is determined to be lost. Lost device detector 636 may receive theoutputs of one or more sensors 646, determine the environment of device600, determine whether device 600 is lost, etc. I/O interface module 638may facilitate transfer of data between digital section 620 and anexternal memory 648. Memory 648 may comprise a RAM, a SRAM, a dynamicRAM (DRAM), a synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), a Flash memory, etc. Module 640may determine the location of device 600 based on measurements ofsatellites, base stations, and/or other transmitter stations.

Digital section 620 may be implemented with one or more digital signalprocessors (DSPs), micro-processors, reduced instruction set computers(RISCs), etc. Digital section 620 may also be implemented on one or moreapplication specific integrated circuits (ASICs) or some other type ofintegrated circuits (ICs).

The techniques described herein may provide various advantages. A devicemay autonomously determine whether it is lost. The device may be able todo this by itself without having to be connected to a communicationnetwork and without having to be informed by the owner or some otherentity. The device may autonomously perform one or more actions, also byitself, with little or no input from the owner or some other entity. Thedevice may secure itself and information stored on the device againstaccess, back up information to a designated server, destroy informationon the device, and/or perform other actions. The device may select whichactions to perform based on the priorities of the actions and theavailable battery power of the device, so that more important actionscan be performed when there is insufficient battery power to perform allactions.

The techniques described herein may provide better security than aremote wipe request, which may be sent by an owner to a device upon theowner determining that the device is lost. The techniques do not requirea connection to a communication network in order to secure and/ordestroy information on a device. The techniques may also provide ameasure of security for users who do not want to deal with the constanthassle of unlocking their devices with a password. The techniques may beespecially applicable for portable electronics devices such as smartphones, tablets, etc. These portable electronics devices may havecomputer-like capabilities but may be more portable and easier to losein a variety of locations than computers.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronichardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performedwith a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Ageneral-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with thedisclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Anexemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that theprocessor can read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in auser terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage media may be any available media that can be accessed by ageneral purpose or special purpose computer. By way of example, and notlimitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM,CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carryor store desired program code means in the form of instructions or datastructures and that can be accessed by a general-purpose orspecial-purpose computer, or a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website,server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologiessuch as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable anyperson skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Variousmodifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scopeof the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited tothe examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded thewidest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: autonomously determining, bya device, that the device is lost; and destroying at least one componentof the device to render the device inoperable in response to determiningthat the device is lost.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theautonomously determining that the device is lost comprises determiningthat the device is lost when the device is detected to have been droppedand not picked up within a predetermined time period.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the autonomously determining that the device is lostcomprises determining that the device is lost when the device isdetected to have not been moved for a predetermined duration.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the autonomously determining that the deviceis lost comprises determining a current environment of the device, anddetermining that the device is lost based on the current environment ofthe device.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determining thecurrent environment of the device comprises determining the currentenvironment of the device based on a location of the device, or outputsof one or more sensors on the device, or one or more applicationsrunning on the device, or information accessed on the device, or acombination thereof.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the autonomouslydetermining that the device is lost comprises storing a log ofenvironments known to be safe for the device, and determining that thedevice is lost based on the current environment of the device and thelog of environments known to be safe.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe destroying at least one component of the device comprises destroyinga memory, or a central processing unit (CPU), or a graphics processingunit (GPU), or a display on the device, or a combination thereof.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: detecting the device beingtampered; and performing at least one action in response to detectingthe device being tampered, the at least one action including preventingaccess to information on the device, or wiping out information on thedevice, or preventing access to the device, or a combination thereof. 9.An apparatus comprising: means for autonomously determining, by adevice, that the device is lost; and means for destroying at least onecomponent of the device to render the device inoperable in response todetermining that the device is lost.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9,wherein the means for autonomously determining that the device is lostcomprises means for determining that the device is lost when the deviceis detected to have been dropped and not picked up within apredetermined time period, or when the device is detected to have notbeen moved for a predetermined duration, or based on a currentenvironment of the device, or a combination thereof.
 11. The apparatusof claim 9, further comprising: means for detecting the device beingtampered; and means for performing at least one action in response todetecting the device being tampered, the at least one action includingpreventing access to information on the device, or wiping outinformation on the device, or preventing access to the device, or acombination thereof.
 12. An apparatus comprising: at least one processorconfigured to autonomously determine, by a device, that the device islost, and to destroy at least one component of the device to render thedevice inoperable in response to determining that the device is lost.13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor isconfigured to determine that the device is lost when the device isdetected to have been dropped and not picked up within a predeterminedtime period, or when the device is detected to have not been moved for apredetermined duration, or based on a current environment of the device,or a combination thereof.
 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the atleast one processor is configured to detect the device being tampered,and to perform at least one action in response to detecting the devicebeing tampered, the at least one action including preventing access toinformation on the device, or wiping out information on the device, orpreventing access to the device, or a combination thereof.
 15. Acomputer program product, comprising: a non-transitory computer-readablemedium comprising: code for causing at least one computer toautonomously determine, by a device, that the device is lost, and codefor causing the at least one computer to destroy at least one componentof the device to render the device inoperable in response to determiningthat the device is lost.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15,the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprising: code forcausing the at least one computer to determine that the device is lostwhen the device is detected to have been dropped and not picked upwithin a predetermined time period, or when the device is detected tohave not been moved for a predetermined duration, or based on a currentenvironment of the device, or a combination thereof.
 17. The computerprogram product of claim 15, the non-transitory computer-readable mediumfurther comprising: code for causing the at least one computer to detectthe device being tampered, and code for causing the at least onecomputer to perform at least one action in response to detecting thedevice being tampered, the at least one action including preventingaccess to information on the device, or wiping out information on thedevice, or preventing access to the device, or a combination thereof.